by David Weber
Part of Safehold, book 1
First published 2007
Lieutenant Commander Nimue Alban awakens as an android in a hidden chamber, eight centuries after humanity fled to the planet Safehold. The survivors built a false religion to keep their world medieval forever, hiding from the alien Gbaba who destroyed Earth by detecting industrial technology. Nimue's creators programmed her with a mission: infiltrate Safeholdian society and spark the technological progress that the Church of God Awaiting has suppressed for generations. She adopts a male identity as Merlin and travels to the kingdom of Charis, where King Haarahld and Crown Prince Cayleb rule a realm more open to innovation than most. Merlin must conceal his advanced abilities and carefully planted technology caches while nudging Charis toward invention and progress. His efforts will inevitably attract the Church's wrath and ignite the very war that could either free humanity from its self-imposed shackles or destroy the last remnant of the human race.
Genres: science-fiction, adventure, action, alternate-history
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: chosen-one, fish-out-of-water, secret-identity
Setting: Safehold, Charis
Period: Medieval, Future
605 pages · Hardcover · Tor Books